Manchester City have a 13-point lead at the top of the Premier League table, and the gap at the summit has been in the double digits since the beginning of December, when they beat second-placed Manchester United. It would take an almighty collapse from here to deny Pep Guardiola‘s team from lifting the trophy in May.
But almighty collapses have happened before in football, with City having been the beneficiaries of not one but two in recent times. United themselves have been on either end of a collapse, winning the title in 1996 after being 12 points behind at one stage and losing in 2012 despite having an eight-point lead with four games remaining.
The former of those is probably the most famous collapse of the modern era, as, much like City this year, Newcastle United‘s swashbuckling, thrilling side looked good enough to conquer all before them. A 12-point advantage in January soon evaporated thanks to a run of defeats, punctuated by manager Kevin Keegan’s infamous “I’d love it if we beat them” rant before Newcastle fell to United in a result that more or less sent the destination of the title to Manchester rather than Newcastle.
So Guardiola isn’t wrong in insisting that the title race isn’t over, despite City’s big lead and United manager Jose Mourinho‘s assertion that Guardiola’s side have already wrapped up the Premier League for this season.
Check out the seven most dramatic title collapses in the COPA90 video above.
